Vasco da Gama’s Lost Ship Discovered

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In this undated photo made available by Blue Water Recoveries company on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, divers excavate the wreck site of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's ship, Esmeralda which sank in a storm in May 1503 off the coast of Al Hallaniyah island in Oman's Dhofar region. (Blue Water Recoveries company via AP)
Divers excavate the wreck site of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's ship Esmeralda, which sank in a storm in May 1503 off the coast of Al Hallaniyah island in Oman, in this undated photo made available by Blue Water Recoveries on Mar. 15, 2016.Blue Water Recoveries/AP
By Alex Johnson / NBC News

Marine archaeologists say they’ve found the earliest ship from Europe’s Age of Discovery ever uncovered — the wreck of a vessel from Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s brutal second armada to India in 1502.

Experts called it a find of major importance that could change how historians view trade and warfare during a critical period in the development of Western civilization.

The ship is believed to be the Esmeralda, which sank in a storm off the Omani island of Al Hallaniyah in May 1503, researchers said in a paper published in this week’s edition of the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (PDF). By…

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